Save a Life: Let’s Put CPR Training in Our Schools

As a former local school board member, I understand the valuable role that schools play in preparing students with essential life skills. CPR skills are among the most critical life skills – they’re lifesaving skills, in fact – which is why I am the sponsor of House Bill 205. This would require a basic CPR training as part of high school health education. Thirteen states have enacted a similar requirement.

CPR training is already addressed in Kentucky’s Academic Core Standards for health education, and health is a high school graduation requirement. However, some schools provide this lifesaving training to students and some do not, which is why House Bill 205 is needed.

Through this bill, schools will not need a qualified instructor or certification class to complete the requirement. In fact, the training can be done in as little as one class period at little or no cost. This was proven recently by a student in Lexington who took the initiative to teach CPR to hundreds of his classmates at Henry Clay High School without the need of spending a single dollar.

CPR has been proven to double or triple the chances of a victim surviving a cardiac arrest, and over time this bill would ensure that Kentucky has hundreds of thousands of individuals who know how to respond to a crisis such as this. Like many rural communities in this state, Meade County, where I call home, doesn’t have a hospital. Equipping our communities with more lifesavers is personally important to me and to the people in my district. With a short time investment, today’s students will become tomorrow’s lifesavers. Everyone benefits from having more lifesavers in our communities.

On February 18, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed House Bill 205 with unanimous support (96-0). Since that time, the bill has sat in the Senate Education Committee with no intention for it to be heard. On behalf of my constituents and the rest of the Commonwealth, I implore Senate Committee Chairman Mike Wilson to do the right thing and act on House Bill 205 before it is too late.

Please contact Senator Wilson’s office at 502-564-8100 and let him know that we need to pass House Bill 205. Kentucky needs to be CPR smart.